Coaching Log – Feb 23, 2014

This is an entry in my volleyball coaching log.

It was back to South West regional play today. We had a triangular with one of the bottom teams and one from the middle of the pack. Both ended up in fairly easy wins. Out of the six sets played, four of them saw us keep the other side to single digit scores. Even against the better team the two closer sets were more a function of us getting sloppy and making mistakes in a row rather than them doing anything particularly special. The results on the day put us temporarily top of the league due to having played more matches than the two teams likely to finish above us when everything is said and done.

I only had six player on the day, and one was the new girl brought up from the club’s intermediate group for last Wednesday’s training. Two of the six were regular first team starters, but the rest were either second team players or ones who bounced back and forth between the squads over the course of the season. I had my first and second team setters each take one match and play OPP in the other.

Overall I was pretty pleased. I’d have liked to see less in the way of multiple errors in the same play (hitting the ball into the net after there’d been a bad pass or set) and there were a few instances of players expecting others to play the ball (not all of which were the result of having a new player in the mix), and I’d have liked some better passing in transition. They remained focused throughout, though, despite the poor quality competition. Serving was a definite high point. I told them at the start to use the opportunity to get aggressive and they did so to good effect. That’s something would could come in quite handy in the important BUCS matches to come.

6 Steps to Better Practices - Free Guide

Subscribe to my weekly newsletter today and get this free guide to making your practices the best, along with loads more coaching tips and information.

No spam ever. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by Kit

John Forman

John is currently the Strategic Manager for Talent (oversees the national teams) and Indoor Performance Director for Volleyball England. His 20+ years of volleyball coaching experience includes all three NCAA divisions, plus Junior College, in the US; university and club teams in the UK; professional coaching in Sweden; and both coaching and club management at the Juniors level. He's also been a visiting coach at national team, professional club, and juniors programs in several countries.

Please share your own ideas and opinions.

Latest Posts

Focus of attention

How much attention do you give to where you're players are focusing their attention? My guess is, not as much as you should.

Weird drills volleyball coaches use

I came across video of a strange drill on social media one day. It reminded me that volleyball coaches really do some strange stuff sometimes.